Not applicable.
Not applicable.
The invention relates to the processing and presentation of digital data that is dynamic in nature within a retrieval and processing environment that enforces control and monitors accesses made of the environment. By dynamic in nature, it is meant that the content and format of the digital data is not known until the access is received. By environment, it is meant that there exists a computer system repository of digital data wherein there are systems and methods to control and monitor digital data retrieval maintained by the repository.
The present invention is an extension of the systems and methods described by the application listed in the cross reference and as such, numerous details regarding the basis on which the present invention operates are described by that application.
Within a computer repository environment that allows for the controlled and monitored access of data contained within the repository, the format of such accesses can be qualified into three, general categories. These categories are: an access format that employs a fixed syntax; an access format that employs a fixed syntax that allows for the selection of optional parameters; and, an access format that is variable in syntax. Within this classification, the functional characteristic of the access type can be further qualified into two categories of logical operation. These categories are: requesting data held by or adding data to the repository using criteria defined by the repository; and, requesting data held by or adding data to the repository using criteria defined by the requestor.
Within the application listed in the cross-reference, the systems and methods of the first two access formats and the first category of logical operation within a controlled access repository are described. The present invention adds the capability to provide the functionality of the third access format and the second category of logical operation.
Systems and methods are described for controlling the access, assemblage and presentation of, data maintained in a computer system repository using an access format that is variable in syntax and qualified by access criteria specified by the requestor. The present invention has particular application to computer based servers that store or maintain data with varying permission requirements and provide access to such data to a plurality of requesters. The present invention overcomes the deficiencies of prior schemes, which are described by the related application listed in the cross-reference, attempting to process requestor criteria in variable formats. This is achieved by allowing the repository designer to create one or more rule sets, which are utilized by the repository, in interpreting criteria and formats supplied by the requestor at the time of the access. The repository designer creates a single rule set by constructing a file denoted herein as a xe2x80x9cnotational fragmentxe2x80x9d. Using the functionality provided by the notational fragment, it becomes possible to process and assemble requests and responses dynamically into presentations or storage organizations that have not been specifically pre-described. These dynamics allow the repository designer to maintain control over content held by the repository in the event a requestor provides processing criteria or formats whose specific behavior cannot be anticipated or accommodated by the set of criteria or formats defined by the repository.
The invention implements a notational fragment using the concept of an xe2x80x9cinterface setxe2x80x9d. The interface set is a collection of symbols that identify instructions available to the repository. The behavior of these instructions during the operation of the repository is variable; depending on the format and criteria of the access supplied by a client or other prior art system. The interface set is novel in that it permits the repository to interact with a client or a prior art system that is not necessarily bounded by the restraints imposed on the repository by the designer. In this manner, unbounded accesses and methods can be incorporated under the control mechanisms established for the repository without requiring modification to such accesses or methods.